Our apologies that it’s been almost a full year since we updated. We hope that you are all well. Isabella’s life is extremely full which has kept us all busy this year! A bit of an update…

Izzy, as she likes to be called, turned ten this summer and she has been growing very quickly. At her pediatrician visit last month they measured her and she is now 4’9″ and 90 pounds! She has grown 5 inches in the last year and 9 inches over two years. She is just about reaching Dana’s height which she takes great joy in!

Her school life is quite full. She is almost midway through 5th grade where she is performing really well academically. We had parent-teacher conferences with her teacher last week and each of her teachers raved about her and how well she is doing! She is a member of her school’s student council, the 5th grade chorus, and the select chorus as well. She has also joined the coding club and STEM clubs at school as she has a real interest in many science and technology related topics.

Outside of school she is just as busy. She has continued to play travel soccer for her team, the Ravens, where she mostly plays left defense, though has occasionally plays goalie as well. In the spring her team had an undefeated season, finished in first place, and they won medals which they were all really proud of. They had a rough fall season as they were moved up two divisions. This winter she will be playing futsal (indoor soccer) to help her keep her skills between the fall and spring seasons. She has really grown to enjoy the game and, more importantly, has made really close friendships with the girls she plays with.

In addition to soccer, Izzy has gotten really into theater which she started with a camp this summer at our local community theater and then continued with weekly lessons this fall. She had a good part in a rendition of Alice in Wonderland and is looking forward to continuing theater this spring. This fall she finally gave up dance, after many years, but decided she wanted to try karate, which she has come to really enjoy as well. Izzy has continued to take piano lessons and has gotten really good at it. This spring she will be participating in NYSSMA for piano, violin (she started playing that at school this fall), and voice.

Isabella continues to be such a warm and loving presence in the lives of everybody who know her and we regularly reflect on the amazing gift that you all blessed us with. She has asked about her birth parents more often recently and has loved hearing the story of the night she was born. We have reinforced to her that her adoption was one that was born out of only the deepest love for her and she has felt deeply grateful for that.

We hope this season finds you all well and we are wishing you the best in 2024. Finally, the post office where we had the PO Box has closed so I need to go get another one. If you have any plans to send anything reach out on here first and I can give you the new PO Box.